A 700 pound male moose swam across the Horsetooth Reservoir that separates the mountains from Fort Collins, Colorado, as he fled wildfires--only to meet highly populated areas and warmer temperatures in the lower elevation city.

The moose was one of many spotted far from their usual cool habitat in Colorado mountains, searching for shade, food and water.

Climate change is literally fueling the fires in Western wildlife habitats -- increasing the frequency of intense drought, intensifying heat waves, and leaving swaths of dead trees killed by invasive pine bark beetles that thrive from the recent warm winters.